Mocha watches her handler, Lindsay Madden, examine scat in the Sierra.
Yes, some dogs are now being trained to scent scat. But, they’re not tracing just any poop — they’re on the nose of scat in its technical sense, of wild animal feces.
Why? For population biology studies and similar reasons. Radio collars break or break down. In some cases, animals learn how to shed them.
Besides thast, scat has plenty of clues about an animal’s diet, as well as some about its well being, and even a bit about the animal version of “emotional states.” For example:
By analyzing recovered killer whale scat for certain hormones, the researchers have been able to demonstrate that whale-watching boats are stressing the whales, as are lack of salmon and certain industrial chemicals in the water.
Scatdogs are becoming so in demand, the University of Washington has constructed a training facility on the shoulder of Mount Rainier.
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